On-premises vs. public cloud: Organizational imperatives will also drive your choice of cloud strategy, particularly with regard to the cost-versus-speed tradeoff. If your main priority is to cut costs, you’re better off with your own data center. But if you value speed and agility more, you’re better off with a public cloud solution.
Also important are your preferences for operating expenditures (OpEx) or capital expenditures (CapEx). OpEx includes the day-to-day expenses a company incurs to keep its business operational, while CapEx involves the major purchases a company makes for the long term. Generally, organizations that prefer OpEx will use the public cloud, while those that prefer CapEx will prefer an on-premises solution.
For workloads running on-premises, you’ll have full control over the facilities, hardware, power, and cooling. You’ll want to invest more time and effort into optimizing data center efficiency.
For workloads in the public cloud, you’ll only be able to control which cloud services you use in certain regions and availability zones. If your organization is concerned about its carbon footprint, you’ll want to consider the trade-offs between workload cost and carbon impact.
For example, one region might have a cheaper compute by relying on coal for energy. Another region might be slightly more expensive but run on solar power. You should make your organization’s executive leadership aware of these trade-offs so they can make decisions and implement governance around both cost and environmental impact.